Woman ordered to forfeit $100K

An Amarillo federal judge ordered a Borger woman to forfeit nearly $100,000 as part of a plea deal for illegally structuring monetary transactions to avoid federal reporting requirements, according to court records.

U.S. District Judge Mary Lou Robinson said Monday that Amy Fernandez, 43, must pay the government $99,950 after she is sentenced later this month, court records show.

Fernandez, who pleaded guilty to the charge in November, faces up to five years in prison, a fine not to exceed $250,000 and a three-year supervised release term.

Between Feb. 22 and 26, 2010, Fernandez bought a single cashier’s check at each of four area banks: Happy State Bank, Wells Fargo, Amarillo National Bank and Borger Federal Credit Union, the plea agreement said.

In the document, Fernandez said the checks were intended to pay off a debt to the Texas Comptroller’s Office owed by her husband’s business, Frank’s Flooring.

Her husband, Frank Fernandez, 43, pleaded guilty in January to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance, court records show. The felony carries a sentence range of 10 years to life in prison.

The cashier’s checks were made in amounts of $3,000 or less, and were “structured to avoid the federal reporting requirements,” Amy Fernandez’s plea agreement said. In those five days, her purchases totaled $59,550, court records show.

Bank tellers said she paid for the checks with cash she kept in a large, gallon-size plastic bag carried in her purse, the indictment said. She told a teller on one occasion that she had to stay below a “$3,000 threshold,” according to the agreement.